Flood warnings issued for South China
( 2001-06-29 01:01 ) (9 )

Senior water officials and flood-control experts urged local authorities in areas south of the Yangtze River to prepare for worse regional flooding brought about by sustained torrential rains.

Zhang Jiyao, vice-minister of water resources, urged local governments in flood-prone areas to get prepared for the overflow of some local rivers and mountain reservoirs, after rushing to deal with an emergency in Central China's Hunan Province early this week.

Regional flooding usually occurs in small local rivers or tributaries of a major river after one or two days of heavy rain, experts say.

During the flood season, particularly the prolonged intermittent rains beginning in April or May on the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze, authorities should focus on key sections of flood control facilities on major rivers which shield China's key cities.

Local authorities must be vigilant against any potential problems with the thousands of reservoirs, and mudslides or landslides commonly triggered by continuous rainfall.

Unusually heavy rainfall has been reported in parts of Fujian Province, the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and Shanghai.

Also, about one-third of China's 30,000 reservoirs have been found to have certain hidden perils due to ageing. Most of them were built either upstream from cities or near trunk railways or main highways, according to Zhang.

Destructive disasters could be caused once such reservoirs collapse, Zhang warned.

Over the past few days, sustained torrential rainfall caused widespread regional flooding in Guangdong, Yunnan, Hunan, Fujian and Jiangxi provinces and in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, leaving at least 89 people dead and many others without homes, according to reports reaching Beijing Thursday.

And 73 people were reportedly dead and 87 missing after the southeastern coast of China was pounded by Typhoon Chebi.